Two Apples and a Pear
by BaronessBlixen
Summary: Ronnée has to take David to the supermarket, where he repeatedly uses a word she doesn't really like to hear. One-shot. Sort of fluffy.


**A/N**: I've been meaning to write a Ronnée-centric fic for ages. I've been working on one for like ages, but never finished it. Then this idea came along. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

This was a nightmare. Ronnée hated supermarkets in the morning, because they were filled with families and old people. The worst kind of people in her eyes. And she had been forced to come here, too. She never did her grocery shopping in the morning. Martin did sometimes, but she never went with him. It was Saturday for crying out loud and way too early to be awake. She stared at her company and couldn't help but blame him for this. Just a little bit.

Daphne had decided to make breakfast for the family. That meant Ronée, Martin, Niles, Daphne and of course their son David. The boy was almost four years old and yes, Ronnée thought he was cute. But that was all. He was a cute, adorable child, but a child. In spite of all her experience in babysitting, Ronnée had never really wanted children of her own. Sometimes she wasn't sure she even liked them. There had been moments throughout her life when she wondered 'what if'. Those moments had gone by fast and without leaving a wound. Yet, here she stood in the middle of the supermarket with what could only be described as her step-grandson (she shuddered just thinking of herself as someone's grandmother) on a Saturday morning. All because of the boy's father. All because of Niles:

"_Good morning dad, Ronnée." The young Crane family arrived early. Too early, Ronnée thought. How could anyone be this chipper in the morning? They were all smiling and hugging each other. She loved them all to pieces – but not at 8 a.m. _

"_Grandpa!" Young David threw himself at his grandfather, who was still strong enough to catch the boy. It was still too early to tell who he might take after, but Ronnée hoped he wouldn't turn into a miniature Niles. _

"_Grandma." David grinned shyly at her. She didn't want to love the little boy, but she did. And fiercely so. Just that word always made her cringe. Daphne smiled at her apologetically, knowing that Ronnée didn't feel old enough to be a grandmother. _

"_Daphne made this wonderful cake. I cannot wait to taste it." Niles said to distract everyone. He wasn't looking forward to tasting this thing – and Ronnée couldn't blame him. It looked like a giant mess of fruits that someone had thrown against a wall and then picked up again. _

"_Cake!" David screamed and sat down at the table. Daphne cut him a piece and the boy started munching it down. Everyone got a piece and Ronnée just eyed it warily. Niles dug in, although not as enthusiastically as his son, and started chatting about something that had to do with his work. Suddenly he stopped talking. While Ronnée enjoyed the moment of quiet, she immediately knew something was wrong. Having known him and Frasier as children and adults, she knew that nothing could shut them up that easily._

"_Niles, what is wrong?" In record time, his face seemed to swell up and he looked panicky. _

"_Oh no!" Daphne exclaimed and everyone turned at her. "Niles, I'm sorry I forgot about your allergies! I'm going to drive you to the hospital." _

"_I'm going with you. You always forget at least one of his allergies!" Martin exclaimed. Ronnée just stared at all of them. Surely, they were going to take David with them. She thought – and she thought wrong._

"_Well, he has so many!" Niles tried to pout, but his face wouldn't let him._

"_Ronnée, could you please watch David? Oh, and we need cereal. David persists on his cereal in the morning," the boy nodded solemnly, "we didn't have time to go buy it before we came here."Daphne explained quickly._

"_You can pick up some stuff for us as well." Martin told her before they ushered a mumbling Niles out. He was complaining wildly and loudly, but no one understood him because of his swollen tongue. Before Ronnée could even say a word, the three of them were gone. David looked at her. The piece of cake was gone and that meant only one thing. She and him had to go the store. Together. And on a Saturday morning._

"Where's your cereal?" Ronnée had told him to go and pick one. Apparently, a four year old couldn't do that by himself.

"Grandma, I want this one." She looked around in terror. Had anyone heard it? He had called her grandma in a public place!

"Grandmaaaaa." The boy said louder this time to get her attention.

"David, shhhh!" She picked the carton the boy pointed at and handed it to him. He grinned happily and held it close.

"Thanks, grandma." They had to get out of the store. Eventually someone would hear him and they'd look at her and think… she's a grandmother. To her greatest surprise, David took her hand. It was warm and so small in her own.

"Can we buy some apples? I want an apple."

"I guess." Ronnée said and watched her plan of getting back home quickly disappear into thin air.

"Look grandma, they have all kinds of different apples!" David exclaimed loudly and ran to the fruit section. All eyes landed on him and then on her. She feared they would stare at her weirdly, even shake their heads in disbelief, but no one did. An older woman even smiled at her and then came closer.

"They're a handful, aren't they?"

"He's not my…," but Ronnée knew that if she told the woman that David wasn't her grandson, it would be a lie. Sure, she didn't like being reminded that she was old enough to be someone's 'grandma', but she was. They didn't need to be related biologically to be a family. She couldn't imagine her life without Niles, Daphne and David anymore. And Frasier. Somehow the two strange men she once babysat had found their way into her heart. Maybe, after all, she had turned into a mother. And a grandmother as well.

"He's a good kid." Ronnée told the other woman, who nodded knowingly.

"Being a grandmother is so much easier than being a mother. You can spoil them, you know? Because in the end you send them home and someone else has to deal with them. They give you so much love."

"Grandma!" David turned around impatiently. He was holding several apples and they looked as if they would fall down any minute.

"Excuse me. My… grand- grandson needs help." Quickly, she helped David put most of the apples back. The boy started telling her about his father's allergies that he had apparently learnt by heart already.

"Next time I should help mom make the cake," he told Ronnée when they were on their way back home. He was eating dry cereal from the box and she wasn't sure that was the best idea. But just like the other woman had told her: Niles and Daphne would have to deal with it.

"If I help, daddy won't get sick. I know all his alleries."

Ronnée couldn't help but smile at the boy. The boy who was her grandson. Even four years later, the thought seemed strange and surreal. But day by day and step by step, she grew to enjoy it.

**END **


End file.
